Pick Your Poison, Monday

[not_a_goddamn_princess]

Margo was all caught up with her favorite science-fiction series of the past decade. It was almost over. She'd already finished the books, and now the series was ending.

"The fuck am I going to be doing with my time?" she asked the body lotion aisle. "Can't find shit on TV these days that doesn't fuck, kill or momify the ladies. Golden Age of television, my ass, right?"

Ugh.

"I gotta hire someone," she decided, "At least that way I won't be complaining at a bottle of knock-off Rose Argan."

[[ open ]]

Comments

[intheeyeofthebeholding]

Jon might regret this later, but after bringing Eliot his coffee, he made another stop to get a latte for Margo. They didn't have pumpkin spice anymore, so hopefully white chocolate peppermint would do.

He'd brought a plain one, too, in case.

He ducked in out of the cold, then took a moment to look around for her as he set the drinks down on the counter.

[not_a_goddamn_princess]

“I’m telling you it’s fucking criminal how they saddled her with a baby in the end,” Margo muttered as she stalked through the aisle. “Cable TV owes me a refund on my Netflix subs--”

Wait.

Did she just see. . .?

She stuck her head out from the aisle. “Fear Nerd, is that you?”

What the hell was he doing here?

[intheeyeofthebeholding]

Jon winced. "'Fear Nerd'? Really?" He gestured at the drinks. "I, erm. I brought you a coffee." Because he was trying to be nice.

[not_a_goddamn_princess]

“Yes, Fear Nerd,” Margo said, popping out from the aisle completely, hands already on her hips. “Why?”

[intheeyeofthebeholding]

Jon grimaced. "Because I hoped if you got to know me better, it might make you less...erm..." upset? "...angry about Eliot helping me. Though at the moment I'll settle for being called 'Jon' instead of 'Fear Nerd'," he finished in a mutter.

[not_a_goddamn_princess]

“Will you,” Margo said. Her tone of voice made it clear that it was unlikely that she would. “Well, if you want to shower me with gifts, Fear Nerd, I won’t stop you.”

Just maybe check the coffee for poison or something.

[intheeyeofthebeholding]

Jon sighed.

Well, he'd been called worse, he supposed.

"I got a, um. White chocolate peppermint if you wanted something sweet, or a plain latte." He pointed each one out. "The only thing I knew you liked was...was the one that you threatened me with, and they, um. That one's seasonal; they don't have it anymore."

[not_a_goddamn_princess]

Margo rolled her eye as she stole the peppermint drink off her counter. "You know, if you think this is enough of a bribe for me, that's technically an insult."

[intheeyeofthebeholding]

"What? It's not...well, not a bribe for anything other than not running me off immediately," Jon protested. He picked up the other drink. "I'm just trying to be, well, friendly. I'm aware I'm not very good at it," he added with a grimace.

[not_a_goddamn_princess]

“Yeah, between forcing people to give you answers if you ask them a question and hovering up people’s trauma like a thirsty vacuum, you kinda suck balls at it,” Margo agreed, taking the cap off the coffee.

She waved her hand over it.

Regular coffee. Okay.

[intheeyeofthebeholding]

"Oh, I, um. I was bad at it before all of that," Jon said, self-deprecating. "And," he added, "I do do my very best not to do any of...well...that. All of it."

[not_a_goddamn_princess]

“You suck at that too.”

Had he been wondering about that? Because Margo - sipping her coffee now - was happy to set him straight about that.

[intheeyeofthebeholding]

Jon winced. "I'm aware. Would it...um. Would it help if I said I'm relieved that...that there's at least one person capable and willing to call me on it?"

[not_a_goddamn_princess]

“So you’re a masochist,” Margo concluded. She took another big sip of her coffee. “I don’t know if that makes you more or less tolerable.”

[intheeyeofthebeholding]

"No," Jon protested. "Not like...I mean, I don't want to...to hurt anybody." Or at least, he didn't want to want to? "But I don't...I can't always...it's hard for me to stop. So I'm glad there's someone who can stop me. And...and I'm glad Eliot is helping me, but I'm really glad you're there for him, because..." He huffed in a laugh. "Because lord knows someone ought to have sense."

[not_a_goddamn_princess]

“Yeah, story of my fucking life,” Margo said, and suddenly wished Jon had brought her something stronger.

[intheeyeofthebeholding]

"I, um. I would offer to listen if you wanted an ear," Jon said, "but from what I've heard of how you get your magic, I suspect that would be a bad idea."

[not_a_goddamn_princess]

“Yeah, I’m not a sharer even with people who don’t eat shitty memories, and not in the good way,” Margo said, rolling her eyes. “But you’ve met Eliot, so I think you know what I’m getting at.”

[intheeyeofthebeholding]

"There's..." Jon blinked. "I wouldn't think there was a good way to eat memories."

He wasn't sure what to say about the Eliot thing, so he'd just focus on the rest.

[not_a_goddamn_princess]

“What, you never do anything you want to forget?” Margo said, raising an eyebrow. “I don’t know if you’re lucky or there’s something wrong with you.”

She paused. “Okay, there’s something wrong with you.”

[intheeyeofthebeholding]

"There's plenty I'd like to forget," Jon said. "But I...I really don't think I should. And I wouldn't trust anything that wanted to eat them."

He hesitated. "I've had some...overwritten...before. It was definitely not good."